The Donald R. Shepherd papers primarily documents the philanthropic activities of Donald R. Shepherd at the University of Michigan (U-M) and the University of California, Los Angeles. Shepherd is largely involved with women's athletics at both Universities, although he has made scholarships available for athletes competing in both women's and men's sports. Shepherd is also a supporter of the U-M Marching Band.
Materials in this collection are chiefly correspondence in various formats (handwritten notes, emails, typewritten letters). However it also includes published materials; notes; various personal documents; event ephemera; photographs; and other materials. Many of these materials were placed into binders by Shepherd himself, with sticky notes affixed to pages of the binders that describe why he found certain documents important. The materials within these binders were kept in Shepherd's original order.
Donald Robert Shepherd was born in 1936 as the only child of Robert and Marjorie Shepherd of Detroit, Michigan. His father, Robert, emigrated from Scotland to Canada, where he met Marjorie Tasker. They married in 1930 and subsequently moved to the United States. In the mid-1940s, the family moved to Rose Corners, Michigan, where they purchased a combination country store and gas station. Don Shepherd spent his childhood in Rose Corners, where he joined the Boy Scouts and attended school in a one-room schoolhouse. In 1950, he enrolled in Fenton High School, where he played on the football and baseball teams, was class Vice President his senior year, President of the Varsity Club, and a member of the Student Council.
After graduating from Fenton High School in 1954, Shepherd received a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan (U-M); he first enrolled in the U-M College of Engineering, but switched to the Business School for his last two years of college. While at U-M, Shepherd pledged the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and played intramural softball. He graduated in 1958 with a Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA), and, through a friend of his father's, secured a position as a Research Analyst in the Trust Investment Department of the Detroit Bank and Trust. Shepherd's job consisted mainly of research and reviewing accounts. He resigned from the Detroit Bank & Trust in the spring of 1961 and drove to Florida to visit his parents before continuing on to San Francisco to look for employment. He was unsuccessful in finding a job in San Francisco and drove back to Los Angeles where he received an offer from Title Insurance & Trust Company to work in their Trust Department as an Investment Officer.
At Title Insurance & Trust he was responsible for managing the Investments in numerous Trust accounts and the company's Common Trust Fund. In 1966, he earned his Chartered Financial Analyst designation, and was elected Vice President of Portfolio Management and Director of Research in 1970.
In 1972 Shepherd was hired to work in the Los Angeles office of Boston-based Loomis, Sayles and Co. At Loomis, Shepherd managed equity portfolios for large institutional accounts, including the State of Alaska, Los Angeles City Employees, the Federal Reserve, Raytheon, Mack Trucks, the State of Nevada, and the Hewlett Packard Foundation. He was also responsible for making presentations to prospective institutional clients. In 1978, he was elected a Senior Stockholder, and in 1984 was elected Director. He was offered the position of CEO in 1988, but declined, as it required relocation to Boston. In 1989, Shepherd was named Executive Vice-President, and when the CEO resigned in 1990, was again offered the CEO position. This time he accepted the job on the condition he could manage the company from California. In mid 1995 Shepherd retired from Loomis, Sayles as Chairman and CEO and bought s home in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
After retiring, Shepherd continued his career as a private investor and member of various not-for-profit organizations (including Scripps Research Institute, Rancho Coastal Humane Society, San Diego Hospice, and the San Diego Zoological Society) and corporate boards (including Denny's, Seabulk International, and Geneva Steel). At the University of Michigan, he has served on the President's Advisory Committee, Athletic Advisory Committee, Investment Advisory Committee, School of Music Advisory Committee, and as an Elbel Club Chairman with the Michigan Marching Band.
Shepherd first gave to the University of Michigan in 1972 – and he has given every year since. His contributions have gone to various U-M projects in music, athletics, and business; Shepherd first focused his contributions on football and ice hockey, but switched to women's athletics as they they were not as well-funded. As of 2020, Shepherd has 20 perpetual endowments at U-M that fund numerous fellowships and scholarships for Athletics, the Marching Band, Musical Theatre, and Fenton High School students at Michigan. There are typically 56-60 scholarships/fellowships awarded each year. He has also endowed the Director of Athletics position, the Marching Band Director position, and 2 Marching Band GSI positions. Among the buildings bearing his name are the Women's Gymnastics training facility, the Softball building, and the Shepherd Wing of Revelli Hall.
Shepherd also has a close connection with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and particularly the Women's Gymnastics team. He pledged a substantial amount to help refurbish the gymnastics training facility, and endowed 2 scholarships for the program. He established three other scholarship programs at UCLA. The first is for low-income students from San Diego County who are attending UCLA, the second is a team GPA competition program, and the third is funding for graduating student-athletes who are going on to graduate school at UCLA or other accredited universities in the U.S. or abroad. There are typically 24-26 scholarships/fellowships awarded each year.
